England in Bangladesh, 2010

Bulletin

Umpires and Bell rescue England

22 March 2010

Three dodgy umpiring decisions have frustrated Bangladesh on day 3 of the second Test match as England blessed by the umpires fully capitalized the reprieves and took 21 run lead with 2 wickets remaining in the first innings. England finished day 3 on 440 for 8 as Ian Bell struck a patient century to lead England fight back after Bangladesh started day 3 well by removing Jonathan Trott before he could add anything to his overnight score.

Each of the three England batsmen who scored substantial runs on day 3 must thank umpires for their generosity towards them. Matt Prior was plumb LBW on 8, but umpire Tony Hill thought otherwise and went on to make a breezy 62. Tim Bresnan offered a bad-pad catch on 5 and this time umpire Rod Tucker denied Bangladesh.

Tim Bresnan remained not out on 74 at the end of days play. Centurion Bell should have been given LBW on 82 as he tried play an Abdur Razzak ball on the back foot and was struck in front, but Tony Hill again decided to make the tourists happy.

It is not sure what prompted umpires to make so many decisions against Bangladesh, but Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan was less than impressed with the howlers. "You have seen the TV. You have seen what the decisions were and what the decisions should have been," said Shakib in the press-conference. "They would have been maybe 150 runs short and we would have been in a very good position" added Shakib.